Trespassers Will Be...

...politely requested to leave.

It may be World Aids Day and the first day of Meteorological Winter but we ignored all that and went for a walk round Lindean Loch, near Selkirk, which was dug by hand in the 1500's to acquire glacial marl, for use as fertiliser and substitute for lime. Once a public water supply, the loch is now a nature reserve, achieving SSSI status in 1977.

The frozen ground crunching under our feet, we admired the many enormous molehills as we picked our way around the loch. From a distance we watched the two swans (top left) preening at the edge of the ice. Later, from the hide, we saw three newcomers fly in, splashing down and making themselves at home (top right), until spotted by the two residents, who took offence at the intrusion, assumed the threat posture (bottom left) and sailed towards the intruders, to which the three responded with a sharp exit, back the way they had come (bottom right). And peace reigned once more.